One day seven years ago, James Hiller saw the Alamogordo Search and Rescue rappelling as part of their training and he immediately became interested in the group.

“I used to build towers for communication companies,” Hiller said. “I’ve always worked up in the air. I’ve just always been one of those guys with his hair on fire, hanging out on a rope all day.”

Hiller, currently section chief of plans, operations and an evaluator for Alamogordo Search and Rescue, said he likes the excitement and has always enjoyed helping people.

“I’m kind of a go-getter,” he said. “When I joined there was no one who was field certified and to lead teams you have to at least be field certified. I jumped in and became section chief for plans and operations, I’m semi-retired so I have the time to do things like that.”

Alamogordo Search and Rescue is a non-profit corporation staffed entirely by unpaid volunteers who are individuals dedicated to helping others. Alamogordo Search and Rescue is activated for missions by the New Mexico State Police, District 8 and encompass Otero and Lincoln counties when there’s help needed to find someone who is lost or when recovering a body.

“When people get out in the woods and get lost, the mind quits working,” Hiller said. “They’re out there in the dark without a flashlight and they remember every mountain lion and bear story they’ve ever heard and every mouse under the grass is that mountain lion or bear.”

Hiller said with the prominence of smartphones, it’s become easier to help find people in certain situations.

“The young people are very good at it and they’ll call you on their phone if they’re lost and they will bring up an app for GPS and it will give me their coordinates,” he said. “Once we have your coordinates, just be still and we’ll go get you. It’s something we didn’t used to have in the past.”

Yosemite climbing pioneer Yvon Chouinard checking out the view from Big Sur ledge the first ascent of the North America Wall on El Capitan. End of pitch 11, Fall 1964. Photo: Tom Frost/Aurora Photos

Outside – 1 Jun. 2016 – Is adventure dead? This somewhat depressing question is one we contend with at Outside all the time. After all, many of world’s great adventure prizes, including the summit of all fourteen 8,000-meter peaks and the North and South Poles, were snagged more than a half-century ago. Today’s firsts, meanwhile, are typically defined by an almost comical list of qualifiers: First blind one-armed climber to stand atop Everest. Fastest human-powered Antarctic crossing. In June. During an odd-numbered year. One can look at this increasingly parsed and trodden landscape and conclude that, yes, sadly, adventure is dead. But you’d have to willfully ignore the 60-plus years of astounding climbing evolution continuing to take place on the granite monoliths of Yosemite Valley.

This month, as part of our continuing celebration of the National Park Service centennial, we’re taking a special look at the most pivotal climbing moments in Yosemite’s storied history. To look at this list is to be reminded that the limits of what is humanly possible when flesh and sticky rubber take on a mountain of vertical granite has been radically redefined by four distinct generations of rock monkeys. In 1958, when El Capitan was still widely considered unclimbable, Warren Harding notched the first ascent after 18 grueling months of hammering in pitons. In 2012, Alex Honnold and Hans Florine tackled the same route in less than three hours. Yes, the latter feat includes a qualifier: fastest. Yet the record is no less relevant in today’s sport than Harding’s first ascent was 60 years ago. …more